The future of the DUB????

[HAF]

What will the future hold for the dub if the NHL doesnt get straightened out?
This is something that has weighed heavy on several peoples minds and I would like to know what some of you more seasoned hockey fans think.
Yes, it is saddening to think about but what are your feelings?

[Jovorock]

The DUB and CHL will and I believe is strenghting it self with the distruction of the NHL. Some NHL fans thought the WHL was not caliber hockey, once you watch it and see how hard these guys work everynight, it can only help the CHL and hurt the NHL,IMO.

[grumphy]

Although there seems to be a good upside due to the strike at present. I think the potential lack of a draft and the resulting dollars coming back to the CHL will eventually have a desasterious effect on tier 1 as we know it today.

[IceMan]

Think of it like a river that is fed from a snow covered mountain .... every year the mountain gets new snow, and every year that snow melts down and feeds a river .... which eventually feeds itself into something larger, like the ocean (or Puget Sound ....). If there were to be a major blockage at the point where the river and ocean merge, what happens to all that water that continues to flow down year after year? Sure the first year, it's great, and maybe even the second. Rafting is better, there's more water available for the farmers to pull from for crops, etc. But eventually, it's going to crest, overflow, and there's not going to be any more room for the snow that's melting to go.

Hockey works just this way. There's a major blockage at the end of the road here (No NHL), which backs everything up. A lot of NHLers are in the AHL, which means that a lot of AHL guys are playing down in the ECHL, and so on. What's going to happen with the WHL won't be noticed this year, but if this thing isn't stopped, you're going to have all of the Overagers having NO PLACE to play, and many of the better 18's and 19's that might have been drafted (thus making room for new 16's to come up) have to stick around in the WHL, which creates a backlog at the Junior B and Bantam levels .... it's just going to turn into a bunch of **** running uphill.

For we the fans, it means that the WHL teams will appear to be stronger. Guys like Phaneuf and Brule who would likely have been gone after this year will suddenly be playing in the WHL until they're fully 20. So, yes, the league will appear stronger, but in reality, the growth of new talant from the Bantams and lower junior leagues is getting severely stunted.

I'm probably over dramaticizing this whole thing, but that's the potential effect, IF there's not an NHL Season next year either (which is a very real possibility).

Now, if the NHL goes the scab route, you'll see the opposite effect, where the WHL/OHL/QMJHL are going to be raped by the NHL and we'll all be watching teams where the oldest guy is 17 or 18.

If they (NHLPA and the NHL) would sit down and actually talk more than once every 6 months, we might have a chance at an NHL season next year, but as it is, with only non decision makers talking at airport bars, we're looking down a long and ugly road, IMO.

[Tipped Off]

The Scab route will steel SOME talent from the WHL & other leagues, but no one with any real NHL potential will go this route. I think back to the NFL strike. They filled every team with scabs...40 man rosters x 28 or so teams....and out of all that only a handful ever played in the NFL beyond the strike. One reason is because they were less talented, but the other reason was because no one liked these guys. They crossed a picket line and potentially cost players their livelihood.

I see the same thing happening in the NHL. The 19 & 20 year olds who haven;t gotten a sniff from NHL teams will be the ones to go. I don't think the NHl would take anyone younger than 18 anyways, but if they did most 16 & 17 year olds still have dreams of making it to the NHl on their talent & won't risk being pigeon holed as a scab. The guys who are now back home starting college who played as 20-year-olds over the last three or four years & current ones (Mitch Love type players) will be the ones to go.

Frankly, I don't see that as affecting the WHL very much.

[grumphy]

The big thing will be the development dollars that have stopped flowing to the CHL

[Tiger Trauma]

I "think" I heard each team recieves around $50,000 from the nhl for drafting players. With no nhl losing.... $50,000 to small market teams like swift could be a big difference.

I know for a fact that swift lost money last year...but they have some sort of fund that holds money for times like that. So i think their may be 1 difference.

1. Smaller market teams having tougher times staying afloat financially......but if the whl recieves more fans cause of the lockout...maybe tv contracts to places like shaw...and rogers could help out a bit?

and possibly
2. Bringing in another overager per team to help the overflow in the AHL, College hockey, and other minor pro teams.

Those 2 things are the only difference i could see.
But what do I know I'm not invovled with the league.....just a fan

I hope this NHL mess is solved soon!

[IceMan]

The difference with the NFL scabs and potential NHL scabs, is that there's a lot more hockey jobs out there.

When the NFL did this, basically, it was just pulling 1200 guys out of construction jobs and mediocre college players to fill the rosters. Without a minor league system to pull from, the scabs didn't leave any "football openings" where they came from when they took those NFL jobs.

With the NHL, it would take about 750 guys to fill the NHL, all of which come from the various minors and junior ranks .... those positions all would be filed from other minor/junior ranks, and so on. Looking at the pool of teams and players, everyone except the actual NHLers on strike would be "moving up", effectively diluting the talent on all playing levels.

It's a different animal.

I agree, though, that a SCAB based NHL would completely suck, and the better players wouldn't do it. Let's hope that it doesn't come to that.

[HAF]

Thanks for everyones input. I am now seeing all the spectrums of this debate!!! Lets keep up the constructive conversations.

[Tipped Off]

I do agree on your assessment of the talent pool, but I think teams this would effect most are the teams those 20-somethings went to play for after their U20 career was over...whether that be University, other league, etc...I was just trying to point out I don't think the actual WHL would be too terribly bad off if they used Scabs.